I love the way the colors come together in this Eva Lake print called Sky Over Casino. This is my favorite piece in the museum.
Sky Over Casino, 2012
Lithograph, edition 4/14
30x30 inches
$990My first week at the Eiteljorg as a high school intern in the communications and marketing department was amazing! My first day was fun and very welcoming. I was excited when I found out I was getting my own little office space. When I first walked inside the cubicle there was a big sign that read “Welcome Kenaja Reaves!”

Examining rabbit fur.
I also got to meet all the employees and got a chance to hear what they do. The best part of my meet and greet time was getting the chance to meet the President and CEO of the Eiteljorg, Mr. John Vanausdall. Later the marketing team treated me to a better-than-delicious “Quesadilla of the Day” at the Museum Café. Seriously, that lunch made may tastebuds say, “Ooooh!”

During my first week I began entering over 11,000 zip codes into an Excel spreadsheet. My work will help show the Eiteljorg where a lot of the museum visitors come from. I'm also learning about blogging, what PR and marketing people do and how a museum uses social media platforms to tell its story.

A few days before Jingle Rails closed I got to take a picture with a local celebrity. Tracy Forner, from “Indy Style” stopped by to tour the exhibit.

I also got the chance to explore the museum. My first stop was Jingle Rails: The Great Western Adventure of course! This was the best part. The Jingle Rails display was beautiful and gave me a lot to look at. In fact, everything in Jingle Rails was made out of natural materials like sticks, leaves and dried fruit - which made it even more fascinating. I also enjoyed watching others look at this imaginative display as well. I look forward to working with everyone here at the Eiteljorg so that I can have the greatest experience possible.

by
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
| Jan 26, 2015

Scott Shoemaker standing in front of images and information
about some of his ancestors profiled in the Eiteljorg Museum.

The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art announced today that Scott
Shoemaker, Ph.D., has joined the staff as Thomas G. and Susan C. Hoback Curator of Native American Art, History and Culture. In his position, Shoemaker will develop the Eiteljorg’s collections, relationships with collectors and donors, and will lead development of exhibitions and publications related to the indigenous peoples of North America. He will also work closely with the Eiteljorg’s Native American Advisory Council and institutional partners, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. According to James Nottage, vice president and chief curatorial officer, Shoemaker will “do much to shape the second 25 years of the museum’s history.”

Scott Shoemaker and James Nottage discuss Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian objects on exhibit in the museum.

Shoemaker earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Ball State, a Master of Arts in landscape architecture at the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate in American studies, also from Minnesota. His focus has been on American Indian studies and museum studies. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, Macalester College in St. Paul, and has served on the curatorial staff in ethnology at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

A member of the Miami Nation of Indiana, Shoemaker is a leading figure in the study and recovery of the Miami language and preservation of the traditional art of Miami ribbon work. He lectures frequently at scholarly meetings and cultural gatherings and serves on boardsfor the Myaamia Foundation, Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana, and as director for the Historic and Cultural Preservation Office of the Miami Nation of Indiana. With this expertise, Shoemaker will lead the Eiteljorg in becoming a center for the understanding of Native peoples of the larger Indiana and Great Lakes regions.

“Scott is a brilliant scholar,” says John Vanausdall, Eiteljorg president and CEO. “The fact that he is a Miami Indian whose culture and family occupied this region before the rest of us is especially gratifying. Further, Scott has been an invaluable cultural advisor to the museum for nearly two decades. We could not have designed a better match.”

Shoemaker has worked with the museum in the past as a member of the Native American Advisory Council and as a consultant in the production of Mihtohseenionki (The People’s Place), the gallery that focuses on the Miami and other tribes important to the history of the Indiana region.

“Working for the Eiteljorg is a homecoming in many ways,” says Shoemaker. “Early on, I - and the Miami people - were made to feel at home here, getting to know the staff and witnessing programs and exhibits over the years. I like being a part of it.

“My goal is to contribute to the wonderful success of the museum, to build upon a solid foundation and expand into areas that we haven’t been able to address. I look forward to focusing on local and regional history and cultures and being able to connect with the broader stories of Native America.”

New Art 2.0 is an exhibition of prints, many created by Eiteljorg Fellows and contemporary Native and non Native artists. It is a blend of “op art,” landscape, political and environmental statements as well as portraiture. Approximately 90 limited edition prints will be on exhibit and available for sale with prices ranging between about $500 - $4000. New Art 2.0 closes Feb. 8, 2015.

Wána nápt, 2002
Lithograph, edition 2/12
30 x 22 ½ inches
$1,060

I like to make sawdust. - Truman Lowe

Truman Lowe is professor emeritus of art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An acclaimed sculptor who has exhibited nationally and internationally, he served as curator of contemporary art for the opening of Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. His work reflects his Ho-Chunk ancestry and culture and often captures the beauty and force of moving water. Lowe was among the first group of contemporary Native artists awarded an Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art in 1999.

New Art 2.0 is an exhibition of prints, many created by Eiteljorg Fellows and contemporary Native and non Native artists. It is a blend of “op art,” landscape, political and environmental statements as well as portraiture. Approximately 90 limited edition prints will be on exhibit and available for sale with prices ranging between about $500 - $4000. New Art 2.0 closes Feb. 8, 2015.Stick House, 2006
Lithograph, edition 18/30
22 ½ x 30 inches
$1,460

Untitled, 2010
Monotype with oil, edition 1/1
22 ⅜ x 30 inches
$3,760

James Lavadour (Walla Walla) continues to be one of the Northwest’s most revered painters. He is widely recognized for his abstract landscapes, structured and reinterpreted from the geography of his lifelong home, the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He is self-educated in art, describing the artistic process as gestures of painting that are their own acts of nature, similar to the landscapes they represent. Lavadour founded Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts as a reservation-based nonprofit organization in 1992. He has received numerous awards, including the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art in 2005, Award for Visual Arts from the Flintridge Foundation in 2004, Oregon Governor’s Arts Award in 1994, and the Betty Bowen Award in 1991.

New Art 2.0 is an exhibition of prints, many created by Eiteljorg Fellows and contemporary Native and non Native artists. It is a blend of “op art,” landscape, political and environmental statements as well as portraiture. Approximately 90 limited edition prints will be on exhibit and available for sale with prices ranging between about $500 - $4000. New Art 2.0 closes Feb. 8, 2015.Mirror Fragments (Today is the Shadow of Tomorrow series), 2012
Lithograph, edition 1/12
30 x 22 ⅛ inches
$1060

Arnold Kemp is an artist, poet, and curator and serves as the Painting and Printmaking Chair & Associate Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. He was named a 2012 Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts. Kemp received a bachelor of arts/bachelor of fine arts degree in English literature/studio art from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, and his master of fine arts degree from Stanford University.